The Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals

by Jeffrey O. Bennett, Megan O. Donahue, Nicholas O. Schneider

The Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals is the briefest introduction to astronomy in the Bennett series. It is designed to engage students and motivate them to learn about astronomy and scientific inquiry. Topical Coverage is focused on topics that students are curious about and that are most requested by faculty, such as extrasolar planets, the search for life in the universe, black holes, and dark matter and energy. The Process of Science is emphasized throughout the text,and each chapter has a full section devoted to exploring a case study on how the process of science has helped astronomers learn more about the topics in a given chapter.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2015

Reviews

[Mari Santini · Rating 5 out of 5]

for astronomy class, loved it!

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite textbooks!

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess it’s a little weird to review a textbook on Goodreads since no one has done it yet, but I did read the entire book, so I want to put it on my reading challenge, as strange as it may be.

The description says that this book is designed for 1 semester classes, and it is fairly easy to cover the whole thing in that period of time. I liked that this book overall was not to difficult to read, and the language could be understood by the average student. It is very much an overview of astronomy that just gives you a taste of the major topics, but I appreciated how the authors always worked to show the evidence for any claims they made.

If you are looking for an introduction to astronomy, this would be a decent book to pick up.